Improvement in ice-breaking- boats



anida gaat para aan.

DA'NIEL COMPTON, OF NEWPORT, NEWl JERSEY.

Letters Patent No. 95,326, dated September 28,-1869.

Iw- IMPROVEMENT ICE-BREAKING B-OATS.

The Schedule referred to inthese Letters Patent and making part of the s'ame.

drawings, and to the let-ters of reference marked thereon.

The. nature of A my invention consists in the coustruction and general arrangement of an ice-boat, or'ice-cutter, for towing vessels and keeping the navigation open in time of ice.

In order to enableothers skilled in the art to which my invention appertains, to make and use the same, I will now proceed to describe its construction and operation, referring to the annexed drawings, which form apart of this specification, and in which-'- Figure l isfa bottomview,

Figure 2, a plan view, and

Figure 3, a side view, all of one-half of the boat.

I have not deemed it necessary to represent more than one-half of the boat, as, of course, the other half is exactly similar.

In all ice-boats heretofore built, the practice has been to place the wheels so that they extend beyond the sides of the hull. 'Vhen the boat has broken the ice wide enough for the passage of the hull, then the wheels must break their own way through the ice, to the manifest injury both to the wheels and to the machinery. By practical experiments, it has been demonstrated that building ice-boats, so as to run through the ice, will not answer.

My plan is to run the vessel'up on the ice, and crush it down, and then, by placing the wheels sol that the hull, forward of the wheels, extend beyond their outer edge, there is no danger of inflicting any injury, neither to them nor to the machinery.

H represents the hull of my boat, which is to be iron-plated, upto the water-line D, with suitable thickness of iron, say, of about half an inch. v

S is the stem ol"4 the boat', and K, 'the keel, both steel-shod.

On the bottom of 'the boat, at the forward end, I place steel-shud runners E, F, and G, running parallel with the keel, and of suitable length.

The wheel J is placed in such a position thatthe forward portion of the hull extends beyond the outer edge of 'theavheeh e It is ,further provided at the sides vwith circular saws I, which project beyond ythe edge of the paddles `or buckets, thus making the wheel cut thewice up as well as propel the boat.

A is the waist around the boat;

fB, thev deck; and

A`C, the cabin for the crew.

R represents railway 4on the deck, for ballast-cars, to increasey the weight at either end, when running through heavy ice, and to assist intrimming the boat. The ballast-ears may beworked by steam from the engine.

When the boat is in operation, and is employed to open a passage through heavy ice, the forward end will run up on the ice and crush the ice down, the

hull projecting beyond the outer edge of the wheels,

and the saws attached to themv protect them fully from all injury.

Having thus fully described my invention,

What Iv claim as new, and desire to 'secure by Letters Patent, is-` The combination of the saws I I, vupon the paddles J, with the. ice-breakers E F G, arranged upon the under part of the hull H, and all constructed to operate substantially as set forth.

- Intestimony that I vclaimthe foregoing, I have here- A.unto set my hand, this 31st day of December, 1868.

Witnesses:

J AMEs PowELL, LEOPOLD EvnR'T.

DANIEL COMPTON. 

